Hellcat Squadran: Emergence
Cracked Voyages It was March thirtieth of the year two thousand and twenty three. Katalena was surprised when her wall had become a window overnight. She looked through it and saw a young man in the cell across from her own, doing something to a rose in his hand. She watched curiously as a he seemed to transform it completely for the shadowy figure of her father. Her eyes narrowed at the sight. ''Another one of my kind. Interesting. I wonder if he'll be as hard on him as he was on me.'' She thought to herself. After around an hour, her father left, and the young man noticed her. "Hey, love. Looks like its you me, and the devil between us." He said. He had an Irish accent, so she guessed he was a drunk. "And a few windows, of course." He added. She looked over at him, completely unimpressed. "Would you like to know my name?" He asked. "I'm fine without it." She replied. "Indeed you are, it is Mason, Mason Young." He said. She couldn't help but smirk. "Fine. Katalena Akulov. You've met my father." "Well, in-laws are always fun to meet." He said. She sighed and lay down on her bed, deciding she didn't want to talk to him anymore. "Come on, honey, don't be like that!" He cried. It was May twenty-seventh of the year two thousand and twenty three. Another man had been taken into the cell block. Katalena watched as he attempted to take something apart with his mind, then reform it. He was struggling. Her father was speaking quietly to this one, and, in fact, they seemed to be getting along. She immediately decided she didn't want to talk to this one, and lay down on her bed again. A few minutes later, there was a loud bang, causing her to sit up quickly and for Mason to scream something about the holy spirit. She looked through her window and saw he had accidentally caused the object to explode. She smirked and lay back down. It was April fourth of the year two thousand and twenty four. She had had numerous arguments with Nick over the past year, but was able to get along with him. She didn't have much of a choice, considering they were locked up in a cell block together. She had to admit to herself, having others like her was actually quite soothing. That day, another man was brought in. A tall, fit man with a tattoo sleeve on his right arm. She watched curiously as he displayed an ability that gave his skin something that looked like the surface of the sun. The sudden sunlight caused her to wince and shield her eyes, but the heat was glorious. Once her father had left, she spoke to him. "Name?" She asked, ignoring a comment from Mason about how she hadn't cared for his name. "Axel. Axel Gustafsson." He replied, his voice had a Swedish accent and she thought she sensed a hint of depression in his voice. "I'm Katalena. I can't say much for everyone else, but I welcome you to this dysfunctional little family we're forming down here." She told him. "I'm the dad, she's the mom!" Mason interjected, getting an eyeroll from everyone else. The next man was brought in on the seventeenth of November of the year two thousand and thirty four. He said nothing to any of them, her father, other scientists, nobody. All experiments ran in his blacked out cell did nothing to him. It got to the point that her father began to consider him a waste of resources. He had a firing squad brought in that opened fire on the man. Shockingly, the bullets merely vanished into thin air when they came only an inch from his face. Further attacks were used, but none had any affect. Her father decided that his power was that nothing could touch him out of harm, and that he would be known as The Void from that day forward. While the others used their names, rather than their designations, they knew not Void's name, and so they all referred to him as Void from that day forward as well. At long last, on the fifth of December of the year two thousand and thirty four, another woman was brought into the cell block. It was a beautiful young thing that went on to show that she only needed to see someone do something to learn how to do it at their level. Many of the guys took a liking to her, despite her strange preaching of spiritual education using pleasure based stimulus. On the first day of February in the year two thousand an thirty five, a young girl, only eleven years old, arrived and displayed the power of Astral projection. Once her father left, she began to subsequently freak out. She talked a lot about needing to escape and getting back to her older sister. Katalena took on the role of helping to get this child to understand the situation, something that proved difficult, considering that she was a highly stubborn young girl. Katalena couldn't help but admire that. The next month, a woman Katalena's age with the ability to shift her own molecules arrived. She hit it off with Axel and Aednat, the mimic, right away, and got along with just about everybody, even Mason, to Katalena's shock. Then, in summer, on the day Katalena decided to give up on keeping track of the dates, a young woman was brought in. She was Katalena's age, but there was something very different about her. She had a fire in her the likes of which Katalena had not seen in anyone. She displayed the ability to produce portals, though the cell limited the power use to inside the room. The woman refused to introduce herself after her father left, and went to sleep angrily. Katalena had a strange feeling in her stomach as she saw this woman. Things felt different. Tense, hopeful, she wasn't sure. Once the woman was asleep, Katalena spoke to the rest of them. "Do any of you feel different?" She asked. "Ever since she walked in, I feel...weird." She said. "Yeah, I have a strange tingling sensation in my anus." Mason said. "Axel, you?" Katalena asked. "What, you don't want to hear about my anus?" Mason asked, prompting Xylia, the molecule girl, to shoot him down. "Yes, things are about to change, I'm sure." Axel replied. ---- ''Morri had been following up on a lead in her hunt for other people like her. A small city had been burned to the ground by a Skulblakan attack during the war. At least, that was the official story. Morri had had her doubts and suspicions about it, so she had come to investigate. It was a mostly unsuccessful investigation, but she had come across tell-tale signs that it was not Skulblakans that had destroyed the city. Some of the explosion scars on the walls of buildings and streets were too precise and calculated. The Skulblakans had been more wild in their assaults. She had concluded that something else had destroyed the city.'' ''She had then found a large refugee shelter in a neighboring city to spend the night in. She had eaten the standard soup of the night, which she truly did not want to know what in had in it. It was awful, but it kept her fed. As she found a spot to set her sleeping bag down and nap, she had noticed that there was a larger concentration of people near her than normal. She supposed that her area was warmer than the rest of the building, so she shrugged it off.'' ''When she awoke, she was lying in the back of a ship, trapped in a small room with walls made of see-through energy. She tried to portal herself past them, but found that her powers were no longer working. Trapped and with no way out, she was left with no choice but to go along with them. She was later drugged into unconsciousness and when she woke up again, she found herself in a holding cell. The cell was oddly well furnished, and even had a television in it. A shadowy man stood outside window. He explained that he didn't wish to harm her, and as long as she did as she was asked, nothing bad would happen to her. Angry at her imprisonment, and after several minutes of silent refusal, she showed him her portal abilities, and he left her alone. Her portals, to her anger, didn't take her anywhere outside the room. The other prisoners tried to talk to her, but in her anger and frustration, she ignored them and went to sleep.'' Morri's eyes fluttered open and she sat up. She looked around her holding cell and sighed. She glanced at the other prisoners, who were all in various stages of waking up themselves. Once everyone was appropriately awake, the floor of the area between the cells started moving, and tables and benches came up from the floor. The other prisoners looked highly confused, so Morri assumed that this was something new. The windows of the cells went down. ''If you try to run, you will be returned to your cells. Please make this easier on everyone.'' An amplified voice said. ''Sit down. Converse, await breakfast.'' The voice said and then there was silence. Morri nervously stepped out of her cell and sat down. A tall man with tattoo sleeve on his right arm sat down to her left, while a younger woman sat down on her left. Directly across from her sat a young man with a goatee and curly hair. A man sat off on his own at the other end of the table, ignoring everyone. A woman her age sat talking to a girl who looked to be about eleven. A blonde woman who reminded Morri of Aurora joined the goatee sporting man. Joining her was a man who she knew had served in the army at one point. She knew the look. Over the course of the morning, she learned a lot about the group and their pasts, and explained her own to them, not going into any detail, but giving them enough to be satisfied. She didn't get to speak to the woman with the girl, or the quiet loner. She got a lot of practice rejecting goatee, who she learned was called Mason. The tattooed man was named Axel, the blonde was Xylia, the younger woman was Aednat, the soldier was Nick, the quiet one was known as Void, and the woman and the girl were named Katalena and Ileana. "So a Sigurdson ends up in here, eh?" Nick asked. "They're bound to come looking for you, then." "Doubt it. I've been away for a couple years...searching for you guys." Morri replied. "Searching for us?" Aednat asked. "Well, not you specifically. People like me. Skulblakan-Humans." Morri explained. "Well, here we are." Axel said. "Why do you guys accept being here?" Morri asked them. "Food, good tv, porn access, what more could I want?" Mason replied. Aednat started complaining about how their windows were open and they could see in as Xylia started to answer. "It's kind of relaxing, actually." She said with a shrug. "No real danger or anything. It's rather soothing." "I...don't accept it." Axel said. "I'm quite bored, honestly." He grumbled. "I find it rather grim, myself. No sun makes for dull times." Aednat said. Void remained silent, and the woman with the girl had grown quiet within their own conversation as well. Food came out and Morri was surprised with the quality of the meal. It was similar to that of a five star hotel's breakfast. Admittedly, she hadn't actually eaten food as good as this meal for months. Her travels had consisted of a lot of terrible meals from refugee camps or not eating for days on end. She was loath to admit it, but it was a truly good meal. Once everyone had eaten, the tables and benches vanished into the floor, and the amplified voice spoke once again. ''I have decided you have earned the right to have a day of interaction beyond your cells. Enjoy it, but remain in the cell block.'' The voice said. Void returned to his cell and he sat on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Katalena and Ileana went to Katalena's cell, while everyone else went to Nick's which was outfitted with the largest tv that could play just about anything. Morri was about to join them for the sake of learning more about the group, but noticed Katalena was waving her over. She hesitated a moment before joining Katalena and Ileana. "Go join the others, Illy, I'll tell you later, ok?" Katalena said. Ileana nodded and walked over to Nick's cell. "Why were you looking for us?" Katalena asked, gesturing for Morri to sit at the small dining table. "I wanted to find others like me. There are plenty of powerful people where I'm from, but it's different when you're the only one of your kind." Morri said. "I know the feeling. I've been here for years, and I was alone for the first year or so." Katalena said. "There must have been something else." "I was...worried. Worried about what people would do if they found out that there were people who are part Skulblakan. If I could find them I could give them shelter from people who would see them killed." "Or worse." Katalena replied. "When I first got my powers, my father imprisoned me here. I went through so much experimentation and torture, emotional and physical. All in an attempt to tap into my powers." "What can you do?" Morri asked. "Chaos. I can induce chaos in anything. He knew I could make a good weapon, so he forced me to destroy a city." "So that was you." Morri said. "Yes. And I mean forced...the torture was getting to be too much at that point. When I agreed, he stopped it." Katalena replied. "What...what kind of torture?" Morri asked carefully. "I'd get whipped with barbed wire sometimes. Pharmaceuticals. Hallucinogenics. At one point he brought my mother in here and killed her in front of me. Another time it was the family maid, who was more of a parent than he was." Katalena said nonchalantly. "I take it you aren't one of the ones who can accept staying here." Morri said, more quietly, out of instinct. "No, you couldn't say that I am. Illy needs to get back to her sister, so she isn't one to stay here either." Katalena said, her voice also hushing. "I guess we just need to think of a way out." Morri said. "It won't be that easy. Guarding us are five assassins, five of the deadliest guns for hire in the universe. All drugged enough to be deadly loyal to my father. Not to mention there are six floors of scientists and soldiers above us." Katalena explained. "I can open a portal once we get high enough, and you should be able to induce enough chaos to help distract the guards." "Not quite. There are dozens of countermeasures for each escape. I've heard him talk to the assassins about it while they thought I was asleep. The three of us would be able to make it pretty far, but not all the way." Katalena, said, shooting the idea down. "So, if we had more of our kind to cover our asses on the way out, our chances would go up?" Morri asked, getting an idea. Katalena snorted. "If you can convince them, I'll talk to Illy about it." Katalena said. "Good. Just give me some time." Morri said. She turned to look at the overhead catwalks, a level that was shrouded in shadow, save for the silver glint of a metal arm that signified someone was pacing the catwalks, watching them. Morri waited until the end of the day, right around the time they were supposed to sleep, before she climbed up the wall to the catwalk. They must have not considered the probability of one of them physically climbing up. She slipped up behind the assassin that was pacing. He had shoulder length dark hair and had a knife across his back. She slipped up behind him, carefully stole the knife and silently jumped down. Her mother had taught her how to fall quietly. She returned to the table where Katalena sat. Very soon, the assassin jumped down. "Get over here!" He roared. They all gathered near him. His face was guarded by a black mask, but his voice certainly displayed that he was angry. "Where's my knife?" He asked menacingly. Morri looked around at the others, acting as confused as they were. Katalena caught on and did the same. "Where's my knife?" The assassin repeated. Nobody answered. "Where's my fucking knife!?" He screamed, grabbed Axel with his metal arm and threw him across the room. Axel hit the ground with a loud ''thwack''. The assassin ran over and used his natural arm to punch Axel. The group ran over and tried to pull the assassin off, Morri participated, slipping the knife back onto the assassin without him noticing. The assassin pushed them away with a sudden, surprising burst of strength before continuing the beatdown. "Leave him alone!" Ileana let out from afar. He was upon her in moments and had lifted her into the air by the collar with his natural arm, his metal one held back for a punch. "That's enough!" A voice barked. Three armored people jumped down and restrained the assassins. Morri shared a glance with Katalena, who mouth ''assassins''. "I apologize for his lack of self control." The voice said, and they saw a shadowy figure up by the upper level door. "One of those fuckers stole my knife!" The assassin roared. "You idiot, it is right here!" Another assassin, a woman, said. She showed him his blade and he froze. They dragged him from the room. "I thank you all for not trying to kill him. He was be disciplined, I promise. To make it up to you, I will allow you to mingle and interact without your cells. But remember, do not cause any trouble with your guards. For if his knife had actually been stolen, the punishment would have been up to him." The figure said before leaving as well. After that, people went to bed, Aednat and Xylia making sure Axel wasn't badly hurt. Katalena waved Morri over. "Nice. You can see the others are doubtful now. Except Void, god knows what he thinks about." Katalena told her. "I'll speak to Illy tomorrow. Well done. We'll have to apologize to Axel once we get out, though." Katalena said . "We'll talk again tomorrow, Katalena?" Morri said, yawning. "Call me Kata. And yes, you can expect we will, Morrigan." "Morri." Morri told her. They both smiled and went to sleep on their own. Morri knew that she could get the others to escape now, all she needed was some doubt and a little bit of anger. ---- He sighed as the night-guard left his office to watch over the subjects while he slept. He was left alone in his office with the assassin that had caused trouble that day. "I will put this simply, in a language you will hopefully comprehend." He said, blowing out cigar smoke. He reached under his desk and pulled out a silenced assault rifle. He threw it to the assassin. He pressed a button on his desk which locked at soundproofed the room. "Now, if you do not mind, unload that clip into me." He said. The assassin tilted his head to one side, the only indication of confusion. "That is an order." He told him. The assassin nodded, took aim, and opened fire. The bullets all slammed full force into his chest, but fell and hit the floor harmlessly. His body vibrated with the shock waves of each impact. Once the final shock wave had dispersed into his skin, the assassin spoke. "You're one of them?" "Aye, the third of our kind." He replied and rose from the chair. "Now, I will make myself clear. If you attempt to harm my people, I will allow them to use their full abilities on you. If you manage to survive, remember what I just did. I will deal with you if they do not." He told the assassin. The assassin nodded and he pressed the button to open the door, allowing the assassin to leave. He sat back down and sighed. He didn't want to cause his kind pain. That would be extremely counterproductive into the formation of this new species and society. And he would have to obtain forgiveness from his daughter of course. If she was anything like her mother had been that would not be an easy thing to accomplish. Lockup ''She was sitting in her cell, strapped down to a chair. Doctors wearing masks were looking down on her. She couldn't see them in any detail, as there was a bright light shining down on her. They brought a machine and she could tell, despite the light, that a mechanically controlled needle was about to be stabbed into her. All she could do was watch as it injected something into her jugular. Her vision went hazy, and when it cleared, she was falling down through the sky, aiming for a lake. She screamed in anger and frustration and fear as she fell towards it. Her vision went white as she hit the water.'' Katalena woke up and gasped. She looked around, panting, and then sighed, calming down. She looked across the cell block and saw Morri watching her, a sympathetic look on her face. After a few minutes, the breakfast tables were brought in and the cell windows went down, allowing them to go and eat. To Kata's surprise, there was a new one of them. It had been a week since Morrigan had been brought to them, but this was the soonest another was brought in after a new one of their kind. After conversing with him, the man revealed he could teleport in little bursts of light. She spent that morning looking after Ileana and talking with Morrigan about what to do next to escape. Around lunchtime, she sent Ileana to be taken care of by Nick. "What was wrong this morning?" Morri asked. "When you woke up?" "Flashbacks." Kata said in a voice that denied any further questions on the topic. Morri nodded, understanding. They sat in silence for a moment, before hearing the new guy talking. "This can't possibly be legal, what they're doing to us." Was one of the things that stood out. "We should try to break out, go get the Coalition, bring them here and arrest them." Was another saying. "Stuart's gonna get himself killed." Morri whispered. "Yes...he is." Kata replied sadly. They sat in silence for another twenty minutes before they heard a scream and a loud smash. They ran out of Kata's holding cell and saw that Stuart had tried to escape by climbing up the catwalk similarly to how Morri had done so, except he had alerted the assassin guarding them. The assassin was apparently under orders to not take kindly to such things, and had all but thrown him from the catwalk. The assassin jumped down and held a sword to his throat. "Stop." Came a commanding voice. "Assassin, allow me to handle him." A man jumped down from the upper levels and the assassin retreated. He was average looking with a cigar pointing out of his mouth. "I've deactivated the device that restricts your powers, Stuart. If you wish to escape, I am all that stands between you and the exit." He said. Stuart immediately took the hint and began teleporting all across the room, trying to confuse the man. He appeared behind the man and unloaded a volley of punches before teleporting to different angles to attack. None of the strikes appeared to do anything. All they could see was ripples of energy coursing through his body. Then, he turned and stuck an arm out as Stuart teleported. When Stuart reappeared, his body was formed around the man's hand. Then, the man ripped a heart out of the body, and Stuart collapsed. "My friends..." The man said after a moment (a moment that Kata used to shield Ileana's eyes). "Our kind is the next generation of galactic rulers. I have you here so we can form a society of gods. Not so we could live like mortals in our old lives. This..." He gestured to Stuart's body. "is not what a god should be like. The five assassins that guard you are others like us, they just see the truth. When you are ready, you may join them." He said, and walked out of the prison block. Morri looked around and saw fear and shock in the others' eyes, save for Kata's. In her eyes, there was nothing but hate. The assassin returned and took the body away, and there was generally a lot of silence for the next few days. Finally, at one point, Axel walked over to Morri. "Listen...after what happened, I'm with you. We need a way out of here." He told her. "Alright, good. Any ideas?" She asked. "Not yet. Aednat agrees with me, as does Nick and Mason. Xylia and Void will need more proof, if you even want to take Void with us." He said. Before Morri could respond, the floor shifted and was turned into a large, empty floor save a group of force-field generators. ''"Chaotician and Sunfire to the sparring area."'' The amplified voice of the man Morri assumed was Kata's father boomed. Axel walked into the designated area, as did Kata. A force-field cage rose around them. ''"Begin."'' The voice said. The two of them hesitated a moment, then Axel transformed himself, his entire body looking like the surface of a sun, and a blast that resembled a solar flare was launched at Kata. She calmly raised a hand, which was surrounded by violet energy, and the attack was abruptly redirected into the ceiling of the cage. Axel launched another while putting a hand to the floor, which caused the floor to heat up rapidly and begin to melt. Kata saw this and, strangely, began floating in the air as she redirected the second flare. Kata raised a hand and the floor beneath Axel melted several times more rapidly than the rest of the floor, and he sunk into it. She took her hand down, and the floor started cooling rapidly as he, in a fit of panic, came out of his form. When he had transformed, he was trapped in a block of cement. Once Kata let him out and Nick repaired the floor, the voice spoke once again. ''"The Warper and the Gatekeeper."'' Morri realized that gatekeeper must have been her designation, so she entered the area once the field came down and Axel and Kata left. She paced on the other end of the cage while Mason grinned at her from the other side. "Don't worry, honey, I'll make this quick." he said. Immediately after, they were given the go ahead to begin. He snapped his fingers and she collapsed. The floor beneath her left foot suddenly far lower than the floor beneath her right. "If you want to stay down there we can get some exhibitionism going." He said, annoyingly trying to add a seductive drawl to his voice. She threw up in her mouth a little at that. She put one palm on the floor beneath her and opened a portal, which reopened up in the air. While she was still in the air, she threw another one down next to his feet and one right in front of her. She flew through her's and came up next to him. She threw a right hook which caught his cocky face on the chin, knocking him off his feet. "Oh, I'm sorry, did that hurt you, sweetie?" She asked, not meaning it at all. "Don't worry, I'm a masochist." Came his response. She opened another portal beneath him which dropped him next to her. As he fell, she caught him under the chin with an uppercut and he was left dazed and confused on the floor. She sighed. Had he taken the fight seriously, he probably would have been able to defeat her. Numerous match-ups happened, though Void, Ileana, and Nick were never brought up, considering Nick's hazardous control over his ability, Ileana's young age, and Void being all but untouchable. At the end of the day, everyone was dead on their feet and slept like rocks that night. Morri was awake early the next morning, and saw Kata shaking in her sleep for several minutes before she woke up as well. When the windows came down, Morri immediately went straight for Xylia's cell. She stopped Xylia from heading to the breakfast table. "I want your thoughts on what happened with Stuart." Morri said. "It was terrible, but he did provoke it." Xylia said. "And you want to accept living under the guy who killed him?" Morri asked. "I wouldn't say accept..." Xylia sighed. "On the outside, there's a guy who is out there and still alive, a guy I really want dead. If I keep going after him, I'll end up dead. I'd choose life." Xylia said. "We get out of here, you can come live with me, and I can keep you busy. You can get all the niceness of life out of this place and be occupied enough to forget about murder." Morri said. Xylia was quiet for a moment. "If he shows himself, I want you to help me." She said. "Done." Morri replied. "Alright, let's eat." Xylia said and they went to sit down for breakfast. That day was spent doing annoyingly difficult training sessions. When they broke for lunch, Morri sat down across from Void. "I will help you." He said, taking her by surprise. "Ok...why?" She asked. He said nothing so she figured it would be all she would be getting from him, so she moved over to sit next to Kata. "Everyone's in." She whispered. "Good. A couple years back, he told me once I was ready to stand at his side, to find a way in the middle of this room at midnight. His assassin will see and take me to him. I'll get you guys out from there." She said in hushed tones. Morri nodded and proceeded to ask about Kata's favorite color as a cover. ---- He sat in his office. It was late at night and he was cracking open an old mickey of whiskey. He poured it into a glass and sat down. He put his feet up on the desk and leaned back in his chair, taking a sip of it. He sighed. His people were strangely stubborn when it came to leaving their old selves behind. It would come, he was certain of it. It truly depressed him how his daughter appeared to be the most stubborn of them all. There was a knock on the door, and he removed his feet from his desk. "Come in." He called. The door opened, and the assassin with the hovering machinery walked in. "Sir, your daughter wishes to speak with you." She said. "Send her in." He said, trying to mask his excitement and nerves. The assassin left, and Katalena walked in. "Good evening, my dear." He said and stood. "Have you reconsidered your stance on joining my side?" He asked. "I have..." She said. "You're right, our kind is superior. Our race's rise will be faster if there is no conflict between us." She said. He nodded, happiness overwhelming him. "Thank you, my dear, for seeing the light." He said and walked over to her and embraced her. Awkwardly, she returned the embrace. He let her go and got her out a glass. "Come, have a drink with your old man." He told her. She took the glass as he refilled his, they clinked the glasses together and she downed her's in one. "To be safe, we should reinstate the others' lockdown for a while, no?" He told her. "I agree. Void had been...disturbing as of late." She said. "Very well." He replied. "Thank you, I would hate to see his mental state crack and result in unneeded death." She explained. "You are welcome, my dear." He said and pressed the button that reactivated the lockdown. "Yes...thank you...father." She said, cursing him in her mind. "Shit, shit shit shit shit ''shit''." was all that Morri could say the next day, when she realized that they had been locked in their cells once again. "Mother fuck." She groaned. She lay down on her bed and prayed that it was just a momentary setback, rather than something long term. Or worse, that Katalena had been playing them all along. Breakout Unfortunately, it was a very long term problem. Almost a month passed before anything happened. Katalena felt horrible about how she had to leave her people trapped in their holding cells for so long, but no good opportunity arose. Finally, one night, her father called her to his office. "Good evening, my dear." He said. "Father." She said and he gestured for her to sit down. She did so. "You seem to grow tired of the standard attire my people clad themselves in." He said. She nodded slowly. She had to admit, the military outfit was extremely annoying for her. "Well, I kept this outfit of yours from years ago." He said and pressed a button on his desk. An armor stand rose from the floor. On the stand was her small red coat from years ago, the short black dress and black shorts she wore under it, the shredded knee-high socks and hiking boots she had worn constantly. "Would this not be clinging to my old life, father?" She asked. "Attire will mean nothing in our world, my dear." He said. "You may change." He said. She grabbed the outfit and waited for him to turn around. He didn't. A pit formed in her stomach when she realized what he was thinking. She turned around and used her powers to hold her old outfit in front of her as she changed into the new one. When she had finished, she tossed the military suit aside. He pressed another button and a mirror formed before her. She looked into it, and admitted to herself she was glad her old attire was back in her possession. He came up behind her and, to her shock, wrapped his arms around her waist. "Don't you look beautiful...?" He said quietly. "My dear, I will be leaving for a few days, looking for more of us. Can I trust you to look after our home while I am away?" He asked. "Yes, father." She said quietly. "Good." He said and gave her a horrifyingly long kiss on the neck. Immediately after it, she excused herself, claiming to be exhausted, and left the room, practically running back to her own room. Once she reached her room, she locked it and used her powers to push the table in front of the door. She dove under her covers and didn't sleep until she got the message her father had left and that she was now in charge of the facility. She slept horribly, still haunted by the dreams of her experimentation. When she awoke, she managed the facility like any other day, up until around eight in the evening. She activated the PA system and spoke into it. "Everyone, you've earned and early night, go get some drinks and some sleep, one night only." She said. She watched the security system until she was sure that everyone was in the barracks before she made her way down to the prison block. She slipped up behind the assassin guarding them that night, the same one that had attacked Axel, and caused a small explosion near his feet, just enough to make him trip to his knees. She kept walking and brought her knee up into the back of his head. He fell, unconscious, but she figured she didn't have long to get them out. She floated down and used her powers to cause the windows to crack and shatter. They stepped out cautiously and saw her. "Time to go." She said. Morri nodded and opened a portal up to the door out, which opened at Kata's command. They crept down the halls until they reached the barracks area. A light could be seen from one of the sleeping rooms, and they could hear some of the workers inside still awake and talking. "I'll distract them, everyone else, creep down to the end of the hallway." Kata said and walked into the room to talk to the people inside. While she distracted them, one by one, the others made their way down to the hall's end, which was a corner where two night security guards stood. "I got this." Mason said. Instead of using his powers to incapacitate them, he ran past and led them elsewhere. "Uh...should we help him?" Aednat asked. Soon after, Mason's voice yelled through the intercom. ''"I'm being assaulted by a chick with a dick! Help! They've sewn up his klunge! They've sewn up his klunge!"'' They heard Kata tell the men in the barracks she would handle it and came over to them. "What the fuck?" She whispered. Mason came screaming around the corner. "They'll be investigating a couple of unconscious guards, so we have time while they go there." Mason said. Kata and Morri shared a look of surprise. "Yeah, I know, I'm not totally retarded!" He said, sounding as surprised as they were. Morri picked up Ileana as the group moved for the stairwell that led upwards. A guard walked through the door as they reached the top, causing Axel to quickly incinerate him. Xylia took on the guard's form and stepped outside, saw the way was clear, shifted back to her normal appearance and they kept moving. A group of guards turned the corner around the same time as them. Morri opened a portal and allowed Xylia to jump through as she transformed her hand and forearm into a superhard blade. Axel entered his sun form and slammed into the guards as well. Aednat displayed a talent for unarmed combat and defeated two of her foes while Nick disintegrated the last one. "Morri, how long before you can get us offworld?" Kata asked. "I need to see the sky." Morri replied. "Alright, guys, next room is the hangar, there will be a lot of security, probably an assassin. Move for the exit, don't stop." Kata replied, led them to the door, and pushed it open. Spirit's Shadow Hiding Away Searching Convicts Schooling The Assassins The Peoples' Cry A House Divided Weapon of Anonymity Chaos Lives In Everything